You’ll encounter, both as your own units and enemy unit types, the entire gamut of medieval fantasy arch-types; knights, paladins, elves, undead, demons, wizards, griffins, orcs and more. Over 100 unique units – with some acting as direct offense, others as support and others bolstering nearby units’ attacks and defence etc. It all makes for some rather deep and complex – but ultimately fun and rewarding battles.
A keen sense of strategy is very definitely required – because though it starts off rather easy, giving you battles you can’t lose, it doesn’t stay that way for long, and once the tutorial campaign is over, you can expect some torturous battles designed to, well, kick your arse. A great deal of time is also required – because a single campaign scenario can take hours – and with 5 scenarios within each of the playable factions, compounded with multiplayer (both hotseat and online) as well as “quick†skirmishes, there’re dozens upon dozens of hours of gaming on offer.
Multiplayer and indeed everything online, now takes place through a system called “The Conflux†that acts as an online community portal, right from your main menu. It allows players to create profiles, compare progress and achievements and build a dynasty of heroes, customized with special weapons and dynastic traits. It also gives you direct access to the game’s official forum in-game, and has Skype integration making online chat a breeze.
There’s a fair bit of graphical upheaval compared to Heroes V, with nicely detailed units and environments, but it certainly won’t wow enthusiasts of cutting edge graphics. The music? Yeah, the orchestral soundtrack is as good as ever, perfectly setting the tone for the game’s rich fantasy setting.
It may be little more than dolled-up chess, and its slow and languid pace and semi-serious tone means it’s not a game for your average ADHD-affected Call of Duty player but It’ll likely find favour with old-school PC gamers who cut their teeth on this sort of thing. Black Hole has tried to make it feel a lot more like the fabled Heroes III – but fervent fans of that game will still find all sorts of things to nitpick and moan about. Fans of deep, tactical strategy games, unburdened by nostalgia, will find plenty to delight in.
[Previewed on PC]Last Updated: August 4, 2011
